Exmouth man Steven Reeves, aged 32, has been jailed for five years for the ‘brutal’ rape of a young woman after an all night drink and drugs party

A rapist from Exmouth has been jailed for five years for a brutal attack on a young woman in a country lane after an all night drink and drugs party.

Builder Steven Reeves lured the victim to an isolated car park on the edge of Woodbury Common and attacked her so violently that he bit off one of her earrings.

He also bit her face and left her with bruises on her legs from the attack, which happened after both he and the woman had been taking cocaine.

They had both been at an all night party in Exmouth and he offered to drive her to buy cigarettes. Instead of going to a filling station, he bought more drugs before taking her to a car park at St John’s Road.

He asked her to go for a walk with him and when she refused he pinned her into the passenger seat, put the seat down, and raped her.

The burly building worker used his bulk to overpower her. He ignored her pleas to leave her alone, pulled down her leggings and told her ‘this will stop when I say it stops’.

The next day he sent her texts in which he pretended nothing had happened but she replied: ‘I said no over and over again’.

He claimed sex was consensual when he was arrested by police but officers found the mangled earring in the passenger footwell of his car.

Reeves, aged 32, of St Andrews Road, Exmouth, denied rape but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court last week and has been jailed for five years by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC.

The Judge told him the rape had left the victim traumatised and was aggravated by the amount of force used, the isolated location, and the woman’s vulnerability.

He said he was taking account of the woman’s victim impact statement which said she suffered serious and continuing psychological trauma.

During the case last week the prosecution said the attack happened after an all night party.

The woman told how Reeves insisted on taking her with him on her own on a mission which she thought was to buy cigarettes, but which ended in him driving out of the town and into a country lane.

Reeves stopped at a small parking area off St John’s Road and attacked her after she refused to get out and go for a walk with him.

He claimed she had asked him to buy drugs for her and suggested they stop. He said she had initiated sex and was an enthusiastic partner. He accused her of making up her allegation of rape.